Real Estate Art #2

Robert Boyd

It's time for another voyeuristic look at other people's art collections, courtesy of the fine people at HAR.com. This time, we have a condo on Shepherd in River Oaks. I recognize a lot of the art, but I'm not going to spoil it (at least, not right away). If you can name the artists who made any of these pieces, let me know in the comments. After a while, I'll pipe up with what I know. But I will give one clue--this collector likes to buy local--many of the pieces here are by Houston area artists. Nice to see!

If you see a piece you think you recognize but can't quite tell, I suggest checking out the HAR listing--there are a lot more interior photos there. Oh, and if you like the condo, it's yours for a mere $2.475 million.

Because there are so many photos, I'm going to number them. If you want to identify one in the comments, please refer to the photo number.


photo 1

I think this is an entryway. Behind the gate, we have a mural. Then the gate itself is pretty interesting. And inside the gate there is a sculpture on a pedestal and a bunch of paintings of cats.


photo 2

Then there is this huge room with multiple artworks. From left to right is a colorful grid on the wall to the left, a colorful ladder-like piece, a pair of paintings and a sculpture, and four colorful bowl-like wall sculptures.


photo 3

The room keeps on going. Again from left to right, the bowl-like sculptures, another colorful transparent ladder, and two large corner pieces. We can see a little bit of what appears to be three paintings cut off on the right edge, and there is a glass object on the table.


photo 4

The room keeps on going though. There is a red and grey column/sculpture in the middle and what appears to be a boxy sculpture on the floor on the right.


photo 5

I won't try to address the things on the balcony, which we will see more clearly in the next photo. But again left to right, there is a pink sculpture under the TV, then three paintings that are two hard to really see, a sculpture of a dog, three chrome-plated wall pieces, a couple more paintings that are too hard to see, four round paintings and a red mobile.


photo 6

Then up in the balcony, there is a very large painting and a set of five colorful sculptures that look sort of like jacks.


photo 7

I can't tell much about the paintings on the staircase. Above them is another dog statue and two colorful dog-cows.


photo 8

The dog artist shows up again here, along with a glass sculpture on a pedestal in the corner.


photo 9

This is a bedroom, I suppose. At least it has a bed in it. Left to right, there is a very large, very colorful painting, then a stack of six paintings. To the left of the bed is an interesting grey abstract floor sculpture, then another fucking dog painting, and another mobile, consisting of cursive letters.


photo 10

And here are a couple of sculptures outside on a balcony.

And the astonishing thing is this is not by any stretch all the art in this condo. This homeowner's taste is not exactly mine--by a longshot--but there are definitely some pieces here that I like, and I like the way they have filled their home with a wide variety of artworks. And unlike a lot of collectors, therse don't seem to shy away from sculpture. Given the number of the pieces and the size of many of them, the owners must be prominent local collectors. According to HCAD, their names are Don and Christine Sanders. These names mean nothing to me though. However, I will hazard a guess that they buy a lot of art from McClain Gallery.

Like I said, I recognize some of this art. Do you? Let us know your guesses!

UPDATE:  We got some great guesses here and even more over on Facebook. Based on the collective knowledge of everyone, here's the art I can identify:

photo 1 - The mural is by Aaron Parazette, but no one had guesses for the other pieces.
photo 2 - The ladder piece is by Stephen Dean. The blue dog paintings and dog sculpture are by Rodrigue, and the discs are by Christian Eckart.
photo 3 - Another ladder piece by Stephen Dean and the corner pieces are also by Christain Eckhart.
photo 4 - It was suggested that the crinkly grey thing on the red column is by Nancy Rubins, and the big ring in the forground on the right is another Christian Eckart.
photo 5 - The silver pieces on the wall are by Christian Eckart, but no clue on the rest.
photo 6 - Of course, the large painting on the left is a James Rosenquist. The jacks-like sculptures on the right are by Ed Hendricks.
photo 7 - The two cows are by Rodrigue.
photo 8 - The painting in the foreground is by Rodrigue.
photo 9 - That's a big Peter Halley on the left, another Rodrigue above the bed, and a Joseph Havel hanging from the ceiling.
photo 10 - A pair of Ed Hendricks sculptures.

What Does It Take to Be Patron of the Year?

Robert Boyd

The obvious and cynical answer to the question above is "big checks." Particularly big checks to the artistic institution that is awarding the title "Patron of the Year." In this case, the institution is the Art League of Houston, and I have no idea if big checks were involved or what criteria at all were used to choose the 2012 Texas Patrons of the Year, Scott and Judy Nyquist. But from the point of view of local artists, they do one thing that well-qualifies them for the honor--they buy local art. And this honor affords them the opportunity to engage in what is the secret desire of all collectors--to show off their collection. I was kind of proud to notice that I had works in my modest collection by many of the same artists shown in this exhibit. So maybe I could be "Patron of the Year" someday--as soon as I start writing some big checks.

Here are a few notable pieces from the exhibit.



Adam McEwen, Jerrycan (water), 2007, powder-coated pressed steel, 18 1/2" x 13" x 6 1/2", edition 10 of 75

Jerrycan (water) by Adam McEwen apparently came with five gallons of water from Marfa, but I don't know what happened to the water...



Chuck Ramirez, Elderflowwer, 2006, pigmented inkjet prints, 60" x 48", edition 3 of 10

The late Chuck Ramirez created this photograph of Judy Nyquist's purse. One of his trademarks was to photograph objects isolated in a white, indistinct space, and this piece is a good example of that approach.



Gary Sweeney, You're Our Favorite Artist, 2008-09, woodblock print, 23" x 29"

Ain't it the truth? Gary Sweeney's piece should make folks who buy work for fundraisers fell just a little bit guilty. I confess I look for bargains at such events. But they are somewhat exploitative, no? Aside from a possible tax deduction, some "exposure", and good feelings, what does an artist get from donating art for silent auctions, etc.?



Joseph Havel, Leap Year, 1996-97, bronze with patina, 100" x 4 1/2" x 6"

Collecting sculpture is often quite difficult because it makes a lot more space demands than a painting or photograph. But Leap Year by Joseph Havel is the perfect sculpture for an individual collector--it has a tiny footprint. Anywhere you have 4 1/2" by 6" of floorspace, you can display this piece.



Joseph Havel, Leap Year (detail), 1996-97, bronze with patina, 100" x 4 1/2" x 6"

 
Joseph Cohen, Proposition #111, 2009, reclaimed latex and latex on Brazilian cherry and African mahogany, 13 1/2" x 10" x 1 1/2" (top) and Allison Hunter, untitled #1 (from the Blue Butterfly Series), 2011, digital c-print, 30" x 30"

This was an interesting pairing--Joseph Cohen's bold, plastic painting above Allison Hunter's delicate nature photo. The two works are both beautiful to my eye, so they have that in common.



Marzia Faggin, Fruit Loops, 2011, cast painted plaster, 6" x 6"

There were two vitrines full of smaller work, such as Marzia Faggin's pill and cereal combo, Fruit Loops. And this is a way for young collectors to get access to work--buy small pieces. Sure you'll end up with shelves of artistic knick-knacks, but what else are you going to put on those shelves? Humel figurines?



Rachel Hecker, Green Car Check, 2008, acrylic on canvas, 24" x 36"

Rachel Hecker paints (among other things) the little scraps of paper that have scrawled writing on them that inhabit our lives--like post-its. Her meticulous, impersonal painting style invests these ephemera with weird (and it has to be said, undeserved) dignity.



Aaron Parazette, Study for Jake, 2009, colored pencil on paper, 20" x 15"

These sketches by Aaron Parazette are of the word "Jake", the name of the Nyquist's son. What's neat about them is that we see the designer in Parazette at work--trying out different variations of the same basic idea.



Robin Utterback, Untitled (no 1064), 2002, acrylic on canvas, 78" x 69"

Robin Utterback was one of the Fresh Paint alumni and was tragically murdered in 2007. I apologize about the spotty lighting on this painting, and I want to note that the front gallery at the Art League was really badly designed. It has tall large windows that let in direct afternoon sunlight. In addition to potentially damaging some artwork on display, it is really distracting.



Woody Golden, Study River Stones, 2007, collection of seven, paper and glue, 3" x 2 1/2" each

Woody Golden takes colored paper, laminates it together into a kind of board, then sands it down to resemble river stones worn smooth and round by erosion. These are another example of artwork that doesn't cost a collector to much yet leaves the collector with something charming and lovely.

That's actually the real virtue of this show. It has items that are small and intimate, items that were gifts from artists, and multiples--in other words, it is almost a primer for a beginning collector. It can be intimidating if you want to buy art but have a limited income (like most of us). You walk into a gallery and look at the prices and it's scary. You don't see how you can even start. The Nyquist collection contains some works that I'm sure they paid a pretty penny for, but it also contains work that probably didn't cost all that much--but which probably brought them as much pleasure as many of the more expensive pieces.

The Houston Fine Art Fair Wrap-Up, part 3

by Robert Boyd

That last post (part 2) might have left a bad taste in your mouth. Let's look at a few pieces of art that I liked in the show and wrap this up.(Part 1 is here.)

Art I Liked


Ken Price, Marcel, acrylic on fired ceramic, 1999

Wouldn't you like this lovely Ken Price? I would. This was at the William Shearburn Gallery booth, which I thought was pretty top-notch. (Update: For some reason, this image--a photograph that I took of Ken Price's sculpture, got a DMCA complaint. I guess that trumps fair use. You'll just have to imagine a beautiful Ken Price sculpture here.)


Joseph Havel, Soft Target #2, fabric, cut up American flags, needles and thread on aluminum, 2011

William Shearburn also had this lovely Joseph Havel piece.


Sandy Skoglund, Walking On Eggshells, pigmented inkjet on paper or cibachrome, 1997

I haven't seen a Sandy Skoglund in years, and was delighted to see this one in the booth of Yvanamor Palix Fine Arts. My understanding is that Yvanamor Palix operates as a private dealer out of a space in the Spring Street Studios building (curiously enough, she used to be located in Paris. I'd like to hear the story of how she landed in Houston.)


Susan Graham, Army Six-shot single action center fire revolver, glazed porcelain, wood base, plexi vitrine, 2003


Schroeder, Romero & Shredder had a table like pretty much every booth, but they left cool pieces of art like this one just laying around. It's like they were just daring me to try to swipe Susan Graham's revolver. 


Kehinde Wiley, Portrait of a Lady, oil and enamel on canvas, 2006

I've always liked Kehinde Wiley's afro-baroque paintings, and this one is hilarious. This one was on view at Pan American Art Projects.


Some Closing Thoughts



William Betts, Amalienburg, acrylic paint on reverse drilled mirror plexi, 2011, detail with my reflection in it


I spoke to Patricia Ruiz-Healy of Ruiz-Healy Art in San Antonio about the fair. I was particularly interested because she was coming from a place so close by, but perhaps not that well known to Houston collectors. As far as they are concerned, she could have been coming from Europe or South America. She told me, "It's been good... It could be better. But it's the first year." But she also saw the fair as an investment--a way to grow some artists from South Texas who weren't well-known to the Houston market. 


They had some great pieces by the late photographer Chuck Ramirez as well as several cool fire-drawn pieces by BillFitzgibbons. But what really caught my eye was this:



George Schroeder, model for Synergy, 2009

If you work in the Westchase area, you might have seen the huge version of this George Schroeder sculpture in front of the ABB building right on the beltway. When I first saw it, it struck me as the perfect piece of corporate sculpture, and I wrote about it.


Last Sunday, I was chatting with an artist who's been around the local scene for a long time, and we were discussing how Houston got Lawndale, the Core Program, and Diverse Works in a relatively short period of time during the late 70s and early 80s. He posited that there was something in the air artistically. I responded that there was also something else in the air--money. Houston was at an economic high-water mark in those days, and folks were writing checks for scrappy non-profit art spaces. Then came the crash of 1985.


Several friends have pointed out that Houston has more money than other places in the U.S. right now. It has not been immune to the recession, but the price of oil is high and that has mitigated a lot of the pain. If you are an Art Fair organizer in 2011, Houston has got to look pretty good! I enjoyed this fair--meeting gallerists, looking at art, and so on. But if this fair exist because there's money here for the taking, I would also like to see the local elite put some of that money into struggling non-profit art spaces here--places like Box 13, Skydive and La Botanica, as well as supporting our already established art spaces that still depend on folks' generosity to keep the doors open every day.

Anyway, The Houston Fine Art Fair is kaput for the year. We have to look ahead, not back!  After all, we have Texas Contemporary Art Fair coming up in just a few weeks. And in a naked attempt to ride on that fair's coattails, I want to announce that I am curating a show with Zoya Tommy that will open simultaneously with the Texas Contemporary Art Fair. More details will be rolled out, but it's a group show with 10 Texas artists, working in sculpture, photography and painting. The name of the exhibit is Pan y Circos. Details coming very soon!

Note on the Collection of the Late Frank K. Ribelin

Recently Read Art Books

Robert Boyd

Art books come in two basic classes, picture books and books where the text is the main thing. Gerhard Richter: A Life in Painting, even though it has a lot of pictures, is not a picture book. Now in picture books, there is almost always an essay or several essays about the artist(s). Reading these essays is always optional. If I find myself bored by them, I will skim them. In extreme cases, I will skip them. With that in mind, here's what I thought about a bunch of recently read art books.



Helio Oiticica: The Body of Color by Mari Carmen Ramírez
The MFAH had a sale of old catalogs and other publications for members, and I picked up this behemoth there. While I don't quite understand Oiticica's theories of color, this book helps you understand how central the idea of color was for Oiticica. Also, if you read the book, you see when Oiticica's thinking shifted away from a cosmic conception of color to more perfomative concepts of art. Lots and lots of great photos.



Visions of Modern Art: Painting and Sculpture from the Museum of Modern Art, edited by John Elderfield
As far as I can tell, while the Museum of Modern Art in New York City was temporarily located in Queens, this book was put out to perhaps remind the impatient about how freaking great their collection is. So this is kind of a greatest hits album, with lots of great images and brief excerpts from catalog essays from decades past. Very, very nice pictures.



Ten Centuries That Shaped the West: Greek and Roman Art Iin Texas Collections by Herbert Hoffman
This book was the catalog of a show from 1971 displaying Greek and Roman art from Texas collections. The Menils seem to have been largely behind this (Dominique de Menil was the director of Institute for the Arts at Rice University at the time, where the exhibit originated.) This thick hardcover has a lot of masterpieces and a lot of minor pieces, and probably a few forgeries. (There are a lot of really vague attributions.) The Menils were especially interested in images of Africans in Western art, including Greek and Roman art, and consequently there are a lot of interesting pieces like the Roman vase (found in Asia Minor, dated circa second and third century A.D.).

The Art Dealers: The Powers Behind the Scene Tell How the Art World Works by Laura de Coppet and Alan Jones
This very interesting book dates from 1984, which was at the height of the 80s go-go art market. Indeed, it would be amazing if a book like this hadn't been produced, given how hot the market was. It is suggested that the dealers here were not likely to be completely honest. Art dealers have a bad reputation--it's a field like record label owner where it assumed that the practitioners are liars and cheats and engaged in all kinds of exploitative shenanigans. I think this is almost certainly unfair--but the secrecy that surrounds the biz really encourages one to think the worst. The interviews here are primarily interesting because you can see how certain gallerists aligned themselves with certain kinds of art. Some of them picked art that was popular and easy to sell, some choosing art that is really challenging--and challenging to market. It's hard to think poorly of John Gibson, who surely was not getting rich off the art he sold (not that there would be anything wrong if he did).

Joseph Havel: A Decade of Sculpture, 1996-2006
Lovely pictures of the sculptures of this Houston sculptor and director of the Glassell School. The text helps you understand his career in a non-boring way. Havel makes bronze sculptures out of dress shirts and sheets, and the tension between the hard material and soft subject is what so much of his work is all about. You can see a really nice Havel on the doors of the newer wing of the MFAH.



Sean Scully: Wall of Light
The text is pretty superfluous. I, for one, don't really care where Scully painted this or that painting. But the images are great. I love Scully's abstract paintings, which seem all about visual pleasure.



The Innocent Eye by Roger Shattuck
Shattuck was one of those amazing critics who seemed to know a lot about everything. I read his book The Banquet Years when I was in my early 20s, and loved it. This collection of essays was published in 1984, and I read it within a couple of years of it coming out. I liked it a lot, but I bristled at his seeming dislike of structuralism, which I was getting into at the time. Rereading it now was actually kind of revelatory. I know a lot more about the art Shattuck writes about. He writes mostly about writers (and French writers at that). He is especially good in writing about what he calls D-S (dada and surrealism). And rereading it, I see he wrote very intelligently and critically about structuralism and especially about Barthes. I love his erudition--its a quality I value more and more as I get older.